It was an outstanding eventful day. After watching the Pirates put the Dodgers away at gorgeous PNC Park on 2010 Opening Day (and grabbing a quick bite at Pizza Sola), I made my way down to Diesel in the South Side for the Midlake show.
The upstairs sections were roped off due to construction, so the intimacy of the sets to follow was ever present. Unfortunately, for the bands, only a handful of us came out to see Midlake and opening act John Grant (from his former band, The Czars).
Grant came out, hushing the whispers, on the keys with a song he announced as named "Firefly". The band came down the stairs behind him from the second selection onward; a feverous and seasoned five-piece in all, including Midlake's newly-acquired keyboardist/flautist Jesse Chandler. Grant's voice is charismatic and affecting and his humor is slightly unnerving --see "Jesus Hates Faggots".
The set featured twisting metaphoric romps "Sigourney Weaver" and "Chicken Bones", the sweetly idle "Marz", and the stripping fuck-off token "Queen of Denmark" (aka title track)--all songs off of Grant's new Bella Union release. The record was produced and instrumentally backed by Midlake.
I chit-chatted a bit with Grant's drummer outside during a smoke. He told me this was only their fifth show. But the rehearsals paid off, nothing sounded 'just put together'.
After John Grant filed off the stage and bounced from corner to corner in the club, Midlake set up.
All for a love of flannel, beards, archtops, and Jethro Tull; this expanded Denton, TX septet graced the audience with their re-formatted 70s folk-rock. Sometimes one, sometimes two flutes, sometimes two, sometimes four guitars; only Midlake sounds like this--at least, these days.
Picking from a cornucopia of fruit on The Courage of Others, Tim Smith tenderly carried tunes like "Small Mountain", "Bring Down", and "Winter Dies" accompanied by the woody tones of fingerpicked Martin acoustics and melancholic flute solos. The achieving harmonies of Eric Nichelson and Eric Pulido assent to Smith's tenor live, as they do so wonderfully on record.
Pulido did all the talking as Smith assigned himself unspoken balladeer through the evening. A few false lead-ins drew curiosity out of the crowd until they were resolved to be introductory notes to works from The Trials of Van Occupanther, such as "Roscoe" or "Head Home". Many of these rehashed offerings bled into frenzied jams with jazz-rock leads from the ever-many electric guitarists and clamoring drum fills from McKenzie Smith. In total, the first six entries from Van Occupanther were performed, with the plaintive "Branches" serving as the savory encore.
Once you wade through the campfire smoke, the silver lining is still burningly evident in their music. Midlake may not have played "We Gathered In Spring", but the other favorites were represented well. "Bandits" and Courage's single "Head Home" make for radiant examples of superb live exposition.
To think, here I was prepping up for some wondrous harmonizing, but these guys can really play.
Rulers, Ruling All Things - Midlake
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